Efficiency is the top priority when developing new products - especially in the pharmaceutical and medical technology sectors. As a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), Sanner uses prototyping – the production of sample tool parts in a 3D printer – to help its customers optimize the manufacturing process and go from idea to series production in the shortest possible time.
The development process of a device or a pharmaceutical packaging is particularly time-consuming and costly, in the course of which the later product goes through several iteration and optimization steps. So-called prototypes or samples of individual medical product components are produced very early in the process. Based on these samples, the subsequent manufacturing and assembly process - as well as the design and functionality of the end product - can be checked at an early stage and, if necessary, be optimized.
Opportunities for early product testing
The process offers manufacturers numerous advantages - in line with the "Design for Manufacturing and Assembly" concept: Finally, it allows process-delaying design errors to be corrected early on, which could have had a far greater impact and possibly caused high costs if they were identified later. So-called prototyping minimizes this risk in the development process and also in the subsequent industrialization phase.
However, the procedure can be quite complex and cost a lot of time and money even in the initial phase. For example, prototyping for medical products often requires injection molding tools made of steel or aluminum, which are very expensive to manufacture. The 3D printing process offers an opportunity to make the development process more efficient and resource-saving.
Plastic tool inserts
As a CDMO, Sanner uses these advantages in prototyping - not only with classic 3D printed parts, but also in particular with the help of 3D printed tool mold inserts for injection molding processes. First, the development experts check the component design as well as the function and intended use of the parts to be manufactured. The tool inserts are then designed and finally printed. The result is available within a few days, sometimes even within hours: fully functional plastic tool inserts that can be installed in your own master tools.
These inserts allow Sanner to provide customers with timely injection molded sample products made from original material for qualification. The prototypes have the same properties as the end product and therefore deliver more accurate, more reliable results than, for example, 3D-printed samples that are not made from the series material later used. Tests and validations on the original material are therefore possible earlier. In this way, the development process can be shortened; In addition, the customer saves expenses that might be incurred if defects were only noticed at a later point in time.
Even during this phase, Sanner develops an optimal tool concept together with the customer, which can be adapted for the series tool. This reduces tool optimization during industrialization and series production, the process is not unnecessarily slowed down and overall tool costs are saved.
Many years of experience in injection molding and tool technology
In the manufacture of these tool inserts, the company benefits from its many years of expertise in precision and multi-component injection molding as well as in tool technology - also and above all in large-scale production: As a CDMO for customer-specific pharmaceutical packaging and medical products, Sanner has been supplying its customers with injection-moulded components, for example accessories, for decades for glass syringes such as finger rest enlargements.
Sanner IDP Process®: Important impetus right from the start
Sanner can also provide important impetus for the manufacturing process beyond prototyping:
With its standard-compliant Stage-Gate process, the Sanner IDP Process® (Idea - Design - Product), the company ensures that all important factors are taken into account from the outset. In doing so, Sanner combines many years of experience in the field of pharmaceutical and medical technology with expertise in the design and implementation of complex and high-quality applications. The experts accompany complete production projects from the initial idea through development and prototypes to series production - precisely adapted to the respective project and with open and team-oriented communication.
If you are facing similar problems / challenges and can identify with the solutions listed here, then get in touch with us and also take a look at our presentation at the "Medical Technology Innovation Days" of the Medizin & Technik brand
The Sanner Expert: Marco Arras
Senior Project Engineer | Tooling Expert